Union janitors want share of improved Houston economy

Updated 9:35 pm, Sunday, May 27, 2012

Adelita Valles, right, leads a chant at the corner of Westheimer and Post Oak during an April 14 protest to call for improved working conditions.

Adelita Valles, right, leads a chant at the corner of Westheimer and Post Oak during an April 14 protest to call for improved working conditions.

Photo: TODD SPOTH

Union janitors want share of improved Houston economy

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Six years ago organized labor celebrated a major victory when the Service Employees International Union won the right to represent 5,300 janitors who cleaned big office buildings in Houston.

The union promised to raise wages, boost work hours and improve working conditions for the part-time, low-wage and largely immigrant workforce.

But in the contracts the janitors and building owners have negotiated since that big organizing win, wages for many janitors still hover near the federal minimum wage.

Janitors in Houston continue to earn far less than their union counterparts in other cities, and many still have just four hours of work a night, the same as before the union came on the scene. They're hoping to raise their wage and increase their hours in negotiating a new contract to replace the existing one, which expires Thursday.

SEIU spokeswoman Paloma Martinez blames the lack of progress on "anti-worker sentiment" in Houston's business community, especially against low-wage workers.

Wages in other cities

Union-represented janitors in Houston start at $7.85 an hour. They get a 25-cent raise after six months and another 25 cents after a year. Most janitors top out at $8.35 an hour; daytime cleaners typically earn a little more.

That's far less than janitors in Chicago, who are members of the same SEIU Local 1 and earn up to $15.45 an hour. Even janitors in Cincinnati, who are among SEIU's newest members, are earning $9.80 an hour.

"In Houston, unlike some other markets, most of these are part-time positions, and still all are provided benefits," said Reilly, including paid vacation. "We recognize that, in these economic times, customers need to manage costs very carefully."

'Went back to Chicago'

Representatives of the four other cleaning companies party to the contract did not return calls for comment.

Management lawyer Bill Bux of the firm Locke Lord speculates that SEIU was more interested in nailing down a high-profile agreement than in pushing for big raises. Its bargaining ability is also hampered because the local isn't based in Houston, said Bux, who isn't involved in the negotiations.

"Once they got the contract and dues money, they went back to Chicago," said Bux.

The janitors are vowing to get what they believe is their fair share this time around.

"We work for some of the richest companies in the world," said Alice McAfee, a janitor who said her financial situation is so precarious that she often has to decide whether to buy gasoline or run her air conditioner.

McAfee works two jobs. She's a home health aide during the day, and for four hours each night she mops floors, empties trash, dusts and cleans kitchenettes in an office tower near the Galleria.

"We're not going to take it any more," said McAfee, who has been a janitor for nearly 30 years.

Wanting $10 an hour

The janitors knew the last time they renegotiated -in 2009 during the depths of the economic slump - that they had to make a deal, said Martinez.

But now Houston has one of the strongest real estate markets in the nation and is leading the nation in job creation.

"This is the time to make some real gains," she said. The janitors are asking for a series of raises over the next three years to bring them up to $10 an hour.

The union's Martinez said that in their most recent offer, the contractors have proposed raises of 10 cents an hour in each of the next two years and 15 cents an hour in 2015 and 2016. That would bring most janitors up to $8.85 an hour.

The union, which now represents 3,200 janitors, believes the contractors won't budge and voted Saturday to authorize a strike if necessary. Martinez said that 40 percent of the janitors are dues-paying members - many can't afford the $14 monthly dues - and that support is strong for a possible strike.

Hernan Trujillo works eight hours a day washing dishes in a restaurant and then he checks in for his second job.

Each evening he straps on a pair of knee pads and spends five hours cleaning the metal grating in front of 232 elevator doors at one of Houston's downtown office buildings.

It's hard to find something new, said Trujillo, adding that many janitors lack skills, don't have proper immigration papers and are used to harsh conditions in their home countries.